How to
Eat, Move and Be Healthy!
How to
Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Your personalized 4-step guide to looking and feeling great from the inside out
by
Paul Chek A C.H.E.K Institute Publication San Diego, CA
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Copyright © 2004, Paul Chek Cover design: Peri Poloni, Knockout Design Book design: Cara Burke Editors: Cara Burke, Ed Mann, Penthea Crozier Proof readers: Paul McNeese, Marc Hertzberg Illustrators: Charlie Aligaen, Joling Lee All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used, reproduced or transmi�ed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including fax, photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system by anyone but the purchaser for his or her own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the wri�en permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review wri�en for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or web site and has wri�en approval prior to publishing.
C.H.E.K Institute San Diego, CA, U.S.A. 800.552.8789
[email protected] www.chekinstitute.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN: 1-58387-006-7 Chek, Paul W. Warning – Disclaimer
The workouts and other health-related activities described in this book were developed by the author and are to be used as an adjunct to improved strengthening, conditioning, health and tness. These programs may not be appropriate for everyone. All individuals, especially those who suer from any disease or are recovering from any injury, should consult their physician regarding the advisability of undertaking any of the activities suggested in these programs. The author has been painstaking in his research. However, he is neither responsible nor liable for any harm or injury resulting from this program or the use of the exercises or exercise devices described herein.
PREFACE
As I sit here writing this preface, I am a happy, healthy, fit, strong 42 year-old man. Over 20 years of my life has been spent assisting others in achieving physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health, fitness and high-level athletic performance. This pursuit has helped me grow tremendously as a person. Through my experiences as an athlete, therapist, conditioning specialist and consultant to professional athletes, sports teams and corporations, it became evident that I could do more. It became clear that while I was growing as a person and my clients were growing through their experiences with their bodies and their lives, I could beneficially influence a greater number of people by designing educational programs for healthcare professionals, which I have now done successfully since 1988. In the natural evolution from a person who thinks only of himself, feeding the I (ego), to one who thinks of those around him (we or us ), I was destined to share the methods that have helped keep myself and my students stay healthy and vital with everyone, with all . This book provides everyone the opportunity to choose health and vitality. While many people think movement or exercise, eating correctly and being healthy is a lot of work, the fact of the matter is that moving too little, eating incorrectly and being devitalized are simply choices with ramifications. The ramifications I am speaking of are laid out clearly in Bill Wolcott’s foreword as well as being discussed throughout this book; they include physical, emotional, mental and spiritual degeneration! What society at large has lost touch with is the fact that for thousands of years, ancient enlightened men have been telling us that we are miniature models of the cosmos, that all in the Universe can be found within us. We are both star people and people of the earth. The current condition of the human race mirrors our management of Mother Earth. We breathe the air that is her lungs, we drink the water that is her blood; we eat the foods that are the product of her great and beautiful body. How can we be any healthier than She , for we are She and She is we! In our pursuit for material gain and to better understand ourselves, we have focused on the sense world, the world of what we can see, touch, hear, feel and taste. We have become industrialized and institutionalized. Our science and medicine have become ever more complex and specialized, to the point that today we are surrounded by experts who have studied tirelessly to learn more and more about less and less, only to end up knowing absolutely everything about nothing! We have studied disease looking for health. We have made plastics, processed foods and medical drugs in an attempt to make things easier…yet we have not only made things harder for ourselves and our children, we have become the greatest parasite Mother Earth has ever known. In fact, we have even become a parasite to the Moon and made a garbage dump out of Space in the process! The famous Naturalist, Edward O. Wilson, informs us that today we are killing more living species of all types than ever in history! The escalating rates of disease among plants, animals and human beings was forecasted in the pioneering works of great people such as Sir Albert Howard, Sir Robert McCarrison, William Albrecht, Rudolph Steiner, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Lady Eve Balfour, Weston A. Price and Francis Marion Pottenger Sr. and Jr. While these great pioneers studied plants, animals and man, and how to keep them healthy, they warned of the impending dangers we faced through chemical and industrialized man-
agement of plants and animals. We have come a long way down the road they tried desperately to steer humanity away from many years ago. While they all warned of the danger in managing Mother Earth, her crops, animals and ourselves with such shortsightedness, they also stated that we could, with a concerted effort, turn things around and head back toward a healthy existence—a healthy existence for both the ecosystem of Mother Earth and the inner ecosystem of the human being. I was fortunate to have a mother who was both health-minded and respectful of Mother Earth. We lived off the land when I was young. Produce and animals were our life bread, and on a farm you quickly learn that you only get what you give, you reap what you sow. We knew exactly where our food came from, and if there was anything wrong with it, it was our fault— simple! Today, hardly anyone ever sees their produce or the animals they eat in the field. Nor do they see what is done to the land in the process of growing produce and raising animals under influence from the food processing industry, commercial farming industry, chemical corporations and the pharmaceutical industry, which reap billions and billions each year from the drugs sold to patch both man and animal alike! We are living like an ostrich with its head in the sand, falsely believing that what is “out of sight”, is “out of mind”. This book comes with a bit of tough love. It is truly time to pull our heads out, be they in the sand or some other dark place. Clearly the “experts” have not made us healthy, they have only allowed us to ignore the head, neck, back, heart and stomach aches that were intended to warn us of foul play. To change the world for the better, we must start with ourselves, IMMEDIATELY! It will be your children who are left with the mess we’ve either created or allowed to be created because our bad diets and life styles left us too lifeless to get involved, to care, to stand up to those with purely I or selfish motives. To restore our health is to restore health to our ecosystem and Mother Earth, for the two are inextricably linked. To get healthy we must begin to think right, and as I always tell my clients and students, you have to: • Drink right to think right • Eat right to think right • Move right to think right And to drink right and eat right means that we will have to pay a lot more attention to what we put in our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams. To eat right, we will have to pay a lot more attention to what is being done to our food and the land it is grown upon! When we begin to move right, you won’t see lazy or obese people driving around the parking lot for half an hour trying to get a parking spot right next to the entrance of the local shopping mall! When we are moving right, we will be much more respectful of the air we are polluting unnecessarily, because we will be more conscious of the fact that we are breathing it! If the thought of eating correctly, moving your body and becoming healthy seems daunting and like a lot of work to you, don’t worry, it’s no more work than you are doing to manage a life of illness and fatigue right now! This book teaches you how to eat right so you can enjoy food and the vitality it gives you—right now. You may not realize how your food choices are directly linked to your aches, pains and sagging vitality. Many people today have lost sight of the fact that life is movement and movement is life! The world is getting fat while it is getting sick, and you are the only one who can change that! How many people do you think realize that the human body is about 80% water as they pour coffee, tea, soda pop,
alcohol and sugar drinks of neon blue and fluorescent green down their gullets? This book teaches you that to have a healthy body, a healthy mind and a productive life you need to drink good clean water. Please don’t wait to get involved until it is completely toxic with industrial waste! Your body manufactures 2,000,000 red blood cells every second; just look at what you ate and drank in the last 24 hours to see what your new red blood cells are made of! That observation alone may shed some light on the number of drugs being consumed by the population at large today. Clearly, you can’t achieve the look or feel you want using your stomach as a garbage can, can you? No, it’s not hard to be healthy, to be vital, to be productive and to have a beautiful body, it’s just a choice. All you have to do is change your mind, to change your thinking and allocate your energy to achieving what you want, not what you don’t want. Famous Australian business consultant Brad Sugar says, “The formula for change is when the desire for change is greater than the resistance to change.” If you are ready to make that change, to become healthy, vital, productive, beautiful and happy with who you are, to make Mother Earth better by making yourself better, this book is for you! If you want to continue to be fat, tired, diseased, unhealthy, destructive to Mother Earth and keep drug lords rich, the formula is easy and you don’t need a genius like Albert Einstein to give it to you – it’s simple: more of the same = more of the same! I invite you to follow the simple life changing principles in this book so that we can all set a good example for the next generation. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to be healthy and vital. If you’ve even read this far, chances are very good you are ready. Let’s do it! Your Personal Health and Vitality Consultant,
Great speakers have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. Albert Einstein
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Anyone who has written a book can attest to the fact that in some ways the process is much like giving birth. A book begins as an idea—often an idea intended to serve a purpose, to fill a need. From there, we water this mental seed—this idea —with progressively more action in the form of further thought and discussion. Finally, we commit ourselves (and others!) to this idea and make it a reality. Once you evolve beyond the idea stage, others have to get involved, again, like creating and giving birth to a human being. My idea to give birth to this book began as a mental seed that was first shared with my wife, Penny Crozier. While some people are easy to convince of an idea, Penny is not. Penny’s mind immediately begins to think, “What should he be doing with his mental energy…article deadlines…course manual revisions…videos to be made…he has a new client coming in tomorrow”—she runs the business! When I explained my deep desire to write this book, she could see the importance of it and committed to helping me get the job done. Thank you, Penny, for your patience with me! I know that I am the father of this idea, which makes you the mother—complete with the pains of birthing. Once I get the idea on paper, I hand it off to Penny, the Institute staff and, finally, to the many reviewers so that when it comes into the world it has more of my strengths, fewer of my weaknesses. There have been many guardian angles who have put their strengths and love into this book so that it may best serve you and Mother Earth. These people include: Cara Burke: If Penny is the mother of this book, Cara is the midwife! There are few people in the world who could handle the many tasks of researching, editing, layout, graphics, schedule coordination for photo shoots, and the many details of book production without cracking up! While Cara would agree that performing the work of 10 people is a challenge, she would most likely tell you that trying to get me to write shorter chapters is the mother of all challenges! While my Golf Biomechanic’s book took a year to write and produce, this book has been like the child that preferred the womb, tasking Cara with what is now three years of work. Cara has carted reports, chapters and files of all sorts all over the world as we’ve progressively refined the book to what it is here. This book would not exist if not for Cara! Thank you, Cara, for your unselfish support and constant efforts to help me become a better writer and for your constant love and care for this project! This book is proof that an idea can have one father and two mothers, for it is very much Cara Burke! Charlie Aligaen: For several years, Charlie worked as the C.H.E.K Institute artist. After having completed most of the diagrams and drawings for this book, Charlie went on to other p ursuits in life. For over four years, his artwork allowed me to express my thoughts multi-dimensionally. Charlie’s artwork contributes greatly to this book, improving the reader’s ability to comprehend the message I am trying to convey. Charlie, you are an amazing talent and your work will serve humanity through all the books you and I have done together for a long time after we are both in another world. I love you and you will forever be dear to me, my friend! Joling Lee: Joling took over where Charlie left off as company artist. Joling has done an amazing job, not only by maintaining the style developed by Charlie, but also by adding her own unique feel to the images. Thank you so much, Joling, for enhancing my ability to communicate to the world artistically through you. It is a great pleasure to see your smile every day at work! Joling, I appreciated your contributions to my work, this book, the Institute and its many students.
C.H.E.K Institute Staff: How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy! , more than any other project I’ve completed, has involved the entire C.H.E.K Institute staff. They all have been involved in reading manuscript drafts, giving feedback and supporting the entire process. Their feedback has often been valuable for determining when my writing and message has been too complex for the general public. Because they are like family to me, they are reliably candid! C.H.E.K Institute Students: My many consultations with students of the C.H.E.K Institute have not only offered me a chance to practice, but also to learn and grow as a practitioner faster than I could as a practitioner dealing with a private clientele. Through working with the students, I have become better and better at simplifying my explanations of physiological, emotional, mental and spiritual processes so that they may better convey information to their clients. I have always been challenged to find the point at which distilling technical information best serves the public without losing necessary dimension, depth or value. This process helped me learn what Cara and Penny have tried so hard to teach me for many years. Students, thank you for the opportunity to learn through you each day! You have helped make this a better book for the lay person. Mentors: While there have been many mentors in my life who have served me in the development of a holistic approach to both life and the body, the following are most relevant to this book: Bill Timmins has taught me an immense amount about the hormonal systems of the body. He has also served as a major contributor to my understanding of digestion, elimination, stress physiology and the importance of lifestyle factors. Dr. Timmins gave me valuable support and encouragement for the system I developed and teach today, and his training further motivated me to focus my efforts on what causes people’s problems, not just the application of quick fix technologies, as so many in the health and exercise fields do today. Thank you for your wonderful influences, Dr. Timmins! Cliff Oliver has been like a guardian angel, sent to look over me as I serve humanity as best I can. With his extensive background in the fields of nutrition, chiropractic, natural and holistic medicine, he has been an invaluable source of knowledge for me. Dr. Oliver has helped all instructors of the C.H.E.K Institute (Chris Maund, Janet Alexander and Suzi Nevell) with challenging clients, teaching us along the way. Dr. Oliver serves me each time I see, hear or think of him by showing me what kind of man I can grow up to be! Dr. Oliver, thank you for all your love and ongoing support, and for your direct and indirect contributions to this book. Fong Ha taught me, by being a living example, that one could achieve an incredible amount through stillness. Fong gave me many great ideas for cultivating Chi, ideas that have been useful with my clients and now will be of use to all the readers of this book. Equally important, Fong Ha has served to show me that I can age into a splendid combination of graceful movement, beauty, intelligence, wisdom and natural power. Through his instruction and my application of that training, the seed of Fong Ha’s mastery is offered to you through this book, too! Bill Wolcott and Dodie Anderson mentored me through my training as a Metabolic Typing Advisor. Thank you, Dodie and Bill, for being incredibly patient with me and my students as we have learned to effectively apply metabolic typing. Bill, your work has served to change untold thousands of lives for the better, both through your own work and through mine and that of C.H.E.K Institute students! For anyone ready to take responsibility for their own health, the practice of metabolic typing presented here and expanded upon in your book, The Metabolic Typing Diet , is a necessary first step! Thank you for your many valuable contributions to this book.
Reviewers: One of the most challenging things a writer can do is exposing his/her ideas to those with the knowledge and skill to critically analyze them. It is natural to nurture and protect your ideas, much like you would your own children, and it takes strength to accept critical feedback, particularly when it could mean that you may have been wrong, possibly even wrong for many years! The kind of people that have the knowledge and skill to provide feedback for a book such as this are highly skilled, industrious and busy people; therefore, I must thank them not just for their feedback, but for thei r time and willingness to share their knowledge by improving the message contained in this book. Special thanks to reviewers Susan Oliver, Eric Soranno, M.D., Jay Smith, M.D., C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3, CHEK NLC Level 2, Matthew Wallden, N.D., D.O., C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3, CHEK NLC Level 2, Nigel Brooke, N.D., D.O., C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3, Dr. Oliver, Bill Wolcott, Alun Biggurt, CHEK NLC Level 2 and Emma Lane, C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3, CHEK NLC Level 3. If I have missed any of you, please forgive me and know that I sincerely appreciate your support and efforts. I would also like to thank Sue Chek and Paul Chek Jr. for the love and support that fueled me through much of my professional career. The love and energy you gave me, and give me today are a part of everything I do! Thank you all,
FOREWORD
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . . Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities .
Dickens’ assessment of human affairs is as true today as it was in 1859. In fact, it would be fair to say that it’s even more true today because of the extraordinary nature of our times. The belief in the importance of diet and nutrition to health is pervasive, more so today than ever before, yet the rates of chronic degenerative diseases in the U.S. continue to sky-rocket. One out of every two people die from (easily-prevented and easily-treated) heart disease, yet it was virtually unknown less than 100 years ago. One out of every three dies from cancer. Diabetes, relatively rare until recently, is becoming a raging epidemic. Alzheimer’s currently impacts about five million people a year, but that number is expected to triple, affecting nearly 40% of the U.S. population over age 65. Incredulously, the number three cause of death in the U.S. as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is found at the hands of our doctors, the very ones we turn to for help. Is it any wonder that people are leaving doctors’ offices in droves searching for alternatives and answers that make sense? Although health expenditures are now out-pacing the growth of the U.S. economy, the U.S. ranked only 17th on the list of Health of Nations. Diseases that only a short time ago were thought to be relegated to the aged are appearing in younger and younger children each year. Twenty years ago, about 2% of all cases of new onset diabetes (type II) were in people between nine and 19 years old. Today, it’s about 30% to 50%. Heart disease, arthritis and cancer are no longer for just the aged. In spite of the thousands of books that have been written on diet and fitness, and regardless of the booming $40 billion a year supplement industry, one in 50 adults are more than 100 pounds overweight; two out of every 3 adults and 1 out of every 5 children are overweight. Today, schools are forced to obtain new weight scales that can measure 350 pounds and higher to monitor the weight of our children. As health consumers, we encounter information overload at every turn. More information is available today than ever before, yet there is so little understanding. Bookstores across the land offer wall-to-wall books, each touting the one diet right for everyone or the latest and greatest supplement to make us well and keep us young. The TV airways are jam-packed with exercise gimmicks and “wondrous” machines “guaranteed” to make us fit and lean. The Internet, easily accessible to virtually anyone, contains vast amounts of invaluable information, but the sheer enormity of it only brings greater confusion instead of clarity, leading to even more questions than the answers we so desperately seek. Whether you’re a casual reader interested in learning about nutrition, or a student consumed with the desire to understand the subject, or a practitioner trying to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field, or an athlete looking for that edge over the competition, or a housewife looking for ways to keep her family healthy, or you’re someone who is facing a dire health challenge desperately seeking solutions,
the same questions are at the forefront of your quest: Whom can you trust? Where can you find accurate information? How do you distinguish right from wrong? How do you find out what’s right for you? Of the tens of thousands of books that have been written on the subject, most are flawed and not to be trusted. Either they are purely based in theory with no real world relevance, or they are based upon lab research that does not bear out in clinical application. Many tout one protocol for all people, which, due to the reality of biochemical individuality, has no logical or scientific basis and is doomed to failure. And often a book is written by someone who found something that worked and for some irrational reason made the fallacious leap in logic that if it worked for him/her it will work for everyone. The best course of action is to follow the recommendations of someone who has had both many years of experience and a track record of proven results. Rarer than needles in haystacks, such books are few and far between and difficult to find. But they are treasures to those fortunate enough to find them. How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! is just such a book. Paul Chek has spent many years traveling the globe, seeking out the best of the best in their respective fields of expertise. He has studied with them. He has learned from them. In many cases he has worked with them. And, like a brilliant conductor who seeks out only the most gifted musicians, Paul has orchestrated a unique and masterful system of healing, regeneration and rejuvenation. Most importantly, over the past 20 years Paul has successfully helped thousands of people from all over the world achieve the optimum health that is their birthright. He has identified the steps required in this process and has made them readily available and easily accessible to anyone through this book.
At the root of Paul’s success is his deep understanding of metabolic individuality. Each of us is unique. This is true in obvious ways such as our height, weight, color of skin, hair and eyes, strength, endurance, digestion, and so on. But in reality, our uniqueness extends to every part of ourselves. In every sense, like no two snowflakes are the same, we are as unique metabolically in terms of rates of cellular metabolism and how we metabolize food as we are in our fingerprints. This little known and even less understood secret of biochemical individuality permeates every aspect of Paul’s approach. It is not enough to eat only high quality, organic food. It is absolutely critical to customize your diet to your body’s unique and ever-changing needs. It is not enough simply to exercise. Exercise must be done properly and, like diet, must be customized to the unique dictates of your individual metabolism, temperament and physiology. There is no one else in the world who has a better grasp of these principles or who is more capable of guiding you in their application than Paul Chek. In order to achieve your goal you must take action, and in order to take action you must have faith in something. But it is absolutely necessary that you place your faith in the right thing. The right faith in the wrong thing can only produce disappointment. The right faith in the right thing will assuredly lead you to your goal. How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! will help you discover what is right for you. Follow the practical, easy steps Paul has provided in this book and you will assuredly make the rest of your life the best of times.
William L. Wolcott Author, The Metabolic Typing Diet Founder, Healthexcel System of Metabolic Typing Winthrop, WA
C ONTENTS
SECTION 1 Preface Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter 1: If Einstein Was Your Doctor
15
Chapter 2: How to Use Your Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Program
23
Nutrition and Lifestyle Questionnaires
28
Metabolic Typing Questionnaire
38
SECTION 2 Chapter 3: The “No-Diet” Diet
43
Chapter 4: You Are What You Eat
55
SECTION 3 Chapter 5: You Don’t Have to Tie Yourself in Knots
85
Chapter 6: Energizing Exercises
99
Chapter 7: Getting to the Core
119
Chapter 8: FUN-ctional Exercises
129
Chapter 9: Special Considerations
159
Chapter 10: Putting it all Together
167
SECTION 4 Chapter 11: Is Stress Affecting Your Health?
189
Chapter 12: Are You Getting to Bed on Time?
201
Chapter 13: Never Cut Calories
207
Chapter 14: Is Your Digestive System Healthy?
215
Appendix
233
References and Resources
245
Index
251
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love
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Chapter 1
AS IF E INSTEIN W
Y OUR D OCTOR A
s you patiently sit in the lobby your gaze drifts to the mirror on the wall adjacent to the mag-
azine rack. You see a vague resemblance of a youth-
Could this be the real Albert Einstein, the father of modern science? “But you look exactly like—”
ful you and wonder if anyone would recognize you at a high school reunion. Your doctor is always in a hurry, so you mentally cover what you want to tell him before he gives you another drug that has side
“That’s because I am Albert Einstein. And you are about to see how well the principles of quantum physics and the theory of general relativity can be applied to medicine.”
effects that make you feel as bad as what you’ve come to see him for. At this point in your life, you realize that your sex drive is hitting a low point, and after following your doctor’s dietary advice you
You quickly cover your reasons for coming to your doctor while Einstein flips through your chart. After a long silence, he lifts a bushy brow. “I see here that all your lab tests look good.”
crave more sugar—are gaining weight—and suspect you’re the victim of the environmental toxicity that the evening news reported. Finally, the nurse escorts you into the examining room. She says you’ll be seeing an associate of your regular doctor, Dr. Einstein. Couldn’t be... But since he’s new, maybe you’ll have time to explain how lethargic you feel. Maybe he’ll have a better explanation for your inability to control your weight and recommend a diet that really works.
“Yes, Dr. Einstein, but I just don’t feel well. How is it that I feel so lousy, yet my lab tests don’t reveal anything wrong with me?” “Well,” Einstein replies, “lab tests are much like mathematics. As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. Lab tests are often just a very small piece of a bigger reality. Let’s start with a look at your home life, relationships and work environment.” “What does that have to do with not feeling well?”
The door opens and you’re looking at a small man with an electric hairdo, a rather large nose and a gray mustache. Cheerfully, he says, “How can I help you today?” The man’s eyes have depth and clarity, and you’re immediately struck with a sense of wonderment.
“A human being is a part of a whole, what we call the Universe, apart and limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as a part, living in a sort of delusional state. This delusion can be a prison, restricting us to our personal desires, forcing us to show affection for only the few If Einstein Was Your Doctor
15
1
people nearest to us. Our task is to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion, to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. How much time do you commit to yourself each day? Do you have a hobby, take time to exercise, read and do things that you enjoy?” “I don’t have time for all that. I have bills to pay, a mortgage, car payments and a family to raise. Sure, I enjoy relaxing with a few drinks while watching a late show, but that’s about it. My family and friends depend on me. They’re the ones who really count.” Dr. Einstein sighs. “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. You’ve lost sight of the essence of what creates life, what gives you the vitality and well-being to really live. It’s only when you are alive, fully present, self-fulfilled and happy that you are truly doing what counts. What good are you to your family if you burnout? Think of yourself as the sun in the sky, and your family and friends as being dependent upon your light. As the sun, it is your duty to care for yourself so that you never burn out. Like the sun, you can only share the energy that you have. Unfortunately, it has become common for people to burnout while trying to be everywhere and do everything.” Einstein places his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. “If you’re not taking care of yourself, your life is out of balance. Subsequently, your family’s life is out of balance. And that affects your children in ways that may not be obvious to you. Did you know that nearly 50% of American children are overweight, and the number of Caucasian children who are overweight doubled between 1986 and 1998, with the number of African-American and Hispanic children that have become overweight increasing 120% in the same 12-year period?1 In addition to the problem of childhood obesity, Type II diabetes among children has increased 10-fold in the past five years. Type II diabetes, rare among children not long ago, presently accounts for 40 - 50% of all cases reported.”
23% of students passed what is a reduced version of the test most adults would have taken as a child. In fact, in one Los Angeles school, only 1% passed the test.”2 Einstein shakes his head. “Adults haven’t fared better. The number of obese adults has doubled since 1960, 63% of males and 55% of females now overweight or obese. An interesting statistic, considering the percentage of energy in the diet from fat has decreased during the past 20 years, yet the number of overweight and obese people has skyrocketed.”3 “Are you saying that cutting fat intake won’t necessarily prevent you from being fat?” “Indeed. Let’s take you for example. I see in your chart that your doctor has asked you to reduce red meat, trim the fat off other meats, skin your chicken, and he also suggests you try to eat more good carbohydrates in order to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat percentage. Judging from your weight, reducing your dietary fat is not working for you.” “To make matters worse, I feel tired and lethargic eating this way. And my cravings are stronger. It seems the only enjoyable thing my doctor allows me to consume is my evening cocktail. If I’m already eating right, do you think it’s the cholesterol-lowering drugs that are causing the problems?”
“But don’t kids get plenty of exercise?”
“Drugs can be a challenge to the system. And indeed, many American doctors rely too heavily upon them. Europeans eat far more fat—particularly the saturated fat the American diet dictocrats keep harping about— and drink just as much wine. Still, fewer drugs are prescribed in Europe and in general there is less disease than in the U.S. In all fairness, American doctors are commonly pressured by patients with a quick fix mentality. And they suffer more than any other population from a “this for that” attitude. Patients should not go to doctors to get a drug to mask their symptoms, they should go to the doctor to find out what is causing their symptoms and learn what they need to change, whether it be diet or lifestyle, to make them feel better.
“Sadly, not always. California law requires school children to take an annual fitness test. Recently, only
“Consider that in the year 2002,” Einstein continues, “drug sales worldwide amounted to $430 billion.4
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How to Eat Move and Be Healthy!
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Couple those statistics with the fact that in the year 2000, Americans spent more than $110 billion on fast food.5 And today, Americans drink nearly 600 12ounce cans of cola per person per year, with a significant number of teenage boys drinking 5 - 6 cans a day. Still, the Coca-Cola® bottling company has the goal of increasing consumption of its products in the U.S. by at least 25% per year.”5 “But I drink diet soda, Dr. Einstein.” “Then it may interest you to know that research has found drinking any soda, even diet, will increase your chance of becoming obese.6 In light of these figures, it’s easy to see why so many people feel just like you. “Now, I’m sure your doctor’s dietary recommendations were based on the assumption that, like most people, you won’t consider eating foods you were designed by Mother Nature to eat.” “Foods designed by Mother Nature?” “My entire career has been spent trying to determine how God built the Universe, how things work in light of a grand view. While there are many opinions on God and on the Universe, I’ve always considered myself a disciple of philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza felt that God is Nature and Nature is God, and it is from Nature that we human beings have emerged. The problem is that most patients don’t realize that what we eat today has changed more in the last forty years than in the last 40,000. 5 The body can’t change that fast, and this causes problems. We’ve got to get back to Mother Nature’s basic principles, the same principles that keep animals healthy in the wild, and the same principles that got us this far.” “But we’re a modernized society with all kinds of high-tech medicines.” “People aren’t machines, and, unfortunately, Western medicine has spent a large amount of its time trying to better Mother Nature’s theorems. They try to break things down into their component parts, looking at disease through the lens of a microscope. Unfortunately, they don’t listen to what matters most—the patient’s explanation of his or her ailment. To show how
a machine works, you take it apart. But to see how a living entity functions, it must be seen as an organism in unity with its natural environment.7 “As a doctor, I can wholeheartedly say that education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school, and one thing I know for sure is that we have more disease and mental disorder than ever before. Unfortunately, most doctors and scientists focus on finding a cure for disease by studying the disease instead of the conditions that favor the presence of the disease. For example, when I look at the stars, it’s obvious that there’s no life as we know it in our solar system because the conditions are not favorable there. Now, just as plant and animal life doesn’t exist on Mercury, Saturn or Jupiter because the conditions are not favorable, health and vitality are not going to develop in your body until you make conditions favorable for them there as well. “Let’s take a brief look at how the approach taken by doctors over the past 4,000 years has changed as they’ve become more and more isolated in their thinking. To treat an ear infection, doctors used these various approaches: 2000 BC:
Here, eat this root.
1000 AD: That root makes you a heathen. Here, say this prayer. 1850 AD: Prayers are superstitions. Here, drink this potion. 1940 AD: That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill. 1985 AD: That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic. 2000 AD: That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root. 2003 AD: Don’t eat that root. It is very likely toxic. Here eat this root. It came from an organic farm.”
If Einstein Was Your Doctor
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“So you’re saying there’s a movement to eat the foods that better match our biological make up.” “We have to come back to Nature. Unfortunately, I can’t suggest that you simply cut the junk foods from your diet and expect you to feel better and lose weight. Sadly, we’ve damaged Mother Nature enough that it may take thousands of years to repair Her. This is why we must stick to organic foods and promote organic farming. To be healthy, you’ve got to model your eating, exercise and lifestyle after healthy people. While modern medicine has long overlooked the study of healthy people, pioneering health care and agricultural professionals such as Weston A. Price, Sir Robert McCarrison, G.T. Wrench, Innes Pearse, and farmers Sir Albert Howard and Lady Eve Balfour have clearly demonstrated the benefits of organic foods for human health.” “I’ve never heard of those people.” “Their studies of various cultures and the relationship between nutrition and disease brought out three points of significance with regard to healthy groups of people: “First of all, these communities lived under harsh conditions, at times with limited resources for food, yet they did not suffer from the physical and nervous disorders now so rife among ‘civilized’ communities. Secondly, they represented a wide variety of races and environments. Their diets varied greatly in the amounts of protein and carbohydrates consumed. And finally, they consumed mainly whole foods. Processing was minimal, and all edible portions of a food were consumed as to limit waste. “Take Lady Eve Balfour, for example. She was a founder member of the British Soil Association, a farmer and lifetime student of nutrition while serving as the director of the longest run experiment comparing conventional and organic farming methods. She is most likely the person responsible for Great Britain’s organic movement. After a survey of Dr. Price’s research on the healthiest people in the world she said, ‘The only discernible common factor, other than good air, seems to be that the diets of all these groups are ‘whole’ diets in the full sense of the word.8 18
How to Eat Move and Be Healthy!
“There is a complete and continuous transference of health from a fertile soil, through plant and/or animal to man, and back to the soil again. The whole carcass, the whole grain, the whole fruit or vegetable—these things fresh from their source, and that source is fertile soil. Herein appears to lie the secret. “So,” Einstein continues, “I’m going to fine-tune your doctor’s recommendations, provided you’re willing to follow my advice.” “Of course, Dr. Einstein.” “I won’t try to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Rather, I will build upon what works, moving toward a greater understanding of the whole. I suggest you buy and eat organic produce and meats whenever possible. Organic foods don’t contain dangerous chemical residues such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Free-range organic meats are raised on high-quality, pesticide-free feed without toxic hormones.” “Do you think then, Dr. Einstein, that the reason I’ve not lost weight and felt worse on this diet is because I’ve been eating commercially farmed produce, commercially raised meats and processed low fat foods?” “Judging by the way you feel when eating processed foods, you can see that these foods are truly toxic and potentially damaging to the body and mind. While it is important to wean yourself from processed foods and sodas and to drink plenty of good clean water, you must also identify your Metabolic Type. Each of us has different nutritional needs. To feel your best, you must eat what’s right for you. “Later, I’ll provide you with a questionnaire that will help me determine your Metabolic Type. You may have been eating the wrong foods and/or in the wrong amounts for your type. Eating wrong for your makeup will shift your body out of a balanced state and can eventually lead to disease. “Furthermore, by cutting down on the toxins entering your body from poor food and drink choices and by reducing the amount of sugar in your diet, you’ll
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see a dramatic difference. If you eat organic, freerange meats, you don’t have to worry about cutting the fat away, and you can eat red meats. In no time, you’ll have more energy, your cholesterol levels are likely to normalize, and you’ll be far more interested in getting the exercise you need. “Just as you need to determine which are the right foods and proportions that are best for you, you must also choose the best type of exercise or movement and in the right amount for you. I can refer you to a C.H.E.K Practitioner who can get you started with the stretching and exercise program that will benefit you the most.” “To be honest, Dr. Einstein, I’ve never really liked to exercise.” “Don’t let that stop you. You may be surprised to find that some of the nontraditional approaches to exercise are quite enjoyable.” “It’s more complicated than I thought. It’s all connected some how; diet, exercise and state of mind.” “Indeed. Each of the stressors in your body has an accumulative effect. You and your body are a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual component of the Universe. You are very much like a star in a galaxy, comprised of key systems such as the musculoskeletal, visceral (your organs), limbic (emotional) and hormonal, which are linked to each of the more subtle body systems such as the emotional, mental and spiritual.
“I want you to imagine each of these systems as a separate sink, yet each plumbed together. Now, considering that you are constantly overworking and are rife with financial stress, as an example, you can see how that will result in a lot of stress being poured into the physical and limbic (emotional) sinks. To help your body recover both physically and mentally, you must get to sleep earlier in order to provide your body with adequate repair time.” “The body always wants to find balance and minimize stress on any given body system. As you can see, the natural tendency is for the body to share the stress with the organ systems and hormonal system. This is one reason why so many people go to doctors with seemingly unrelated symptoms, only to be given drugs to treat the symptoms they are asking the doctor to take away. Most drugs, being harmful to the body, put stress on the liver and other organ systems, leading to even more stress to be shared with the rest of the body. Eventually, there’s no single major problem in many cases, just a lot of small problems that can grow into bigger ones if left unattended.” “This is amazing, Dr. Einstein! For the first time, I’m really beginning to understand my body. I’m also beginning to understand that maybe I need to take a look at my life from a bigger perspective, like you do! I’m going to follow your advice. But, I’d really appreciate it if you could recommend a book that will reinforce what you’ve taught me here today. I want to surprise my doctor when I come in for my next check up.” “The book I recommend is titled, How to Eat, Move and be Healthy! by Paul Chek, a well known Holistic Health Practitioner.” “Thank you, Dr. Einstein, My time with you has been very enlightening. How long do you think it will take me to get my body shape and my energy back?” “If you work at it consistently, you can make an amazing transformation in just three to six months, and in a year, you’ll look and feel at least ten years younger. But remember, you must make all these things a part of your new lifestyle to continue your quest for optimal health.”
If Einstein Was Your Doctor
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Case History Emma Lane, C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3, CHEK NLC Level 3, Metabolic Typing Advisor, NMT, a client of Paul Chek I was a fitness professional, in my 20’s and leading what I thought was a very healthy life. I followed the WHO (World Health Organization) protocols for nutrition, was a vegetarian and exercised regularly. Granted, I was quite busy, as I was running multiple businesses, working with clients and presenting at international fitness conferences, but I didn’t feel like I was over-stressing my body. I have since become aware that this so-called healthy lifestyle that I was leading was actually doing me more harm than good. It began in 1998, when I found out that I had cancer. I followed the allopathic route—had surgery—and the cancer was cleared. When the cancer came back in 1999, I decided I wanted to try an alternative route, as clearly the traditional medical approach hadn’t worked the first time. Also in 1999, I was in a serious head-on car collision. The accident left me with numerous injuries: concussion, brain damage, whiplash, very bruised legs and dislocations. Being hyper-mobile, I did not actually break any bones but was completely covered in bruises and was unable to walk for over a week. I followed a rehabilitation program at the hospital and also worked with a physiotherapist several times a week privately. Eventually I followed my own rehabilitation programs as I felt it would be more effective. After about two and a half months, I was gradually starting to get back to work. I still did not feel well and was on 3-4 strong pain-killers a day, anti-inflammatory drugs and sleeping pills. Even with all of these medications, I was in constant pain. I consulted with several specialists and was told that, “it would just take time.” At this point, I was becoming frustrated. The pain continued, and I was experiencing memory loss and cognition problems which greatly affected my daily activities. I often didn’t recognize people who I knew quite well and would zone out during conversations. 20
How to Eat Move and Be Healthy!
Just as I was getting back to work and felt like I was making a bit of progress, I was in another car accident—again someone ran into me. This accident left me in traction for two days. The doctors at first thought that I might have broken my back. Fortunately I hadn’t. Physically, this second accident was not as serious as the first, but my body just crashed. I was in pain in every joint, my whole body ached constantly, and I couldn’t make any sense of it because I hadn’t actually sustained any major injuries. I felt in a daze most of the time. I would zone out, often losing hours at a time. I couldn’t maintain information and had difficulty focusing. I got dizzy frequently and experienced pins and needles in my hands and feet, as well as numbness and total loss of sensation. I was experiencing severe pain in my knees, back and neck, as well as extreme fatigue. This physical fatigue was not due directly to damage from the second car accident, however; it was my body trying to tell me something! I had over six months off work. When I eventually returned, it was at a very reduced level. I still felt terrible and was relying on medications to get me through the day and to sleep at night. My pain symptoms were still as intense, but on an intermittent level. The pain would be heightened and worse in different joints most days. Some days my knees would hurt more, while other days it would be my back or my neck that felt worse. It all seemed very strange to me. I consulted many specialists. Because I had not received serious damage from the accident and my pain and symptoms constantly changed from day-to-day, the doctors couldn’t make any sense of my case, since it didn’t fit into their known approach. Therefore, I was told that I needed to see a psychologist because it was, “all in my head!” So far the financial cost for my treatments was in the thousands (sterling), and I had not regained any health or quality of life.
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When I finally saw Paul in London, I was desperate for help and information on my condition. I had given up on the medical community because I felt they had given up on me. I had to change the focus of my business hugely in order to keep earning a living. I was extremely unhappy and confused. I couldn’t function and didn’t know why! Paul did! In the two days I worked with him in London, he did some neuromuscular work on me which gave me immediate relief from the headaches and low back pain. He also educated me on my lifestyle and diet. He made me eat a steak for the first time in 13 years. At the time, looking at the steak made me feel sick, and it took me an hour to eat it, but I did feel substantially better after. Paul insisted that I needed to go out to the C.H.E.K Institute in California to work with several specialists in the area so that I could start the healing process. I was out in the States within two weeks. After finally being referred to the correct people, I found out what was wrong. Looking back, it is no wonder I felt so bad. Here is a list of things that Paul helped me address: Toxicity Atlas (vertebra in the neck) subluxation Brain damage Damaged spine Joint damage • Knees • Feet/Toes • Elbows Adrenal fatigue Postural malalignment Abdominal wall dysfunction Hypothyroid Parasites and candida Hormonal imbalances Gluten and dairy intolerance Chemical sensitivity Eating according to my Metabolic Type I was in the States for two months this first visit, working with the right people. I made substantial improvement, thanks to a lot of hard work from everyone involved! It wasn’t a pleasant experience, at times, as my body was weak and very toxic. It took a long time to detox. I was metabolically
typed when I initially saw Paul and came out as a protein type—hence the steak in London. However, I have changed metabolic type three times since I was so out of balance. I needed to do the advanced level of the testing. I also needed huge supplemental support to help my systems heal. I totally changed my lifestyle and eating habits for the better—getting to bed by 10:30, drinking enough good water, taking time out for myself, relaxing and eating organic foods. These are just a few of the changes I was advised to make. Many of the changes I had to make in my lifestyle and diet were difficult to change and stick to in the beginning. However, you soon realize that when you do slip up, the consequences of your actions on how you feel are not worth the few minutes of pleasure you get from eating a muffin, for example. I follow the 90 /10 rule now. If I really fancy eating something or doing something that I know my body will not like, I only do it occasionally (the 10%). I accept that I will experience consequences and try to minimize them by supporting my body and doing everything that I know will help it to function optimally (the 90%), and this ultimately makes me feel healthy and vital. I had to go back to the States regularly to work with the specialists (I was unable to find another brain specialist or NUCCA chiropractor (for my neck) at home). It has been a slow process, but it has proven to be very informative and worthwhile. I have learnt so much going through the process of dealing with all the different issues. I am still working on some of the issues, knowing they are going to take time to reach a satisfactory level. However, I am now a fully functioning, happy human being who has been able to learn the techniques and protocols from Paul and the other specialists I have worked with. Although I had to do a lot of work, today I am productive and cancer-free! I am now able to apply these protocols to other people in pain and have helped many individuals to recover and regain their lives free from pain and symptoms. I would like to thank Paul for giving me my life back as well as for teaching me how to help my clients regain a functional fulfilled life. If Einstein Was Your Doctor
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